A Big Sky
by callsignstreak
Summary: Released as 'The Journey of Hermes' on Reddit.
1. Chapter 1

'Is there anything out there?'

It's a big question, one asked by millions. Not many had the power to do anything about it.

Yet, the big black void still beckoned. Glittering stars, galaxies, and that big shiny thing that seemed to appear every night-Oh yeah, the Mun.

It loomed overhead, giving no clue as to what it was or what it was doing there. Some speculated that it was a mythically fat dragon that sat on Kerbin every night and blackened the sky. Others said that it was like those color-changing pencils and that somebody was rubbing it every night. The more daring ones suggested that it might be empty, clear, and home to millions and millions of stars.

As much as they disagreed, they could all agree on one thing: A unity of curiosity. Kerbals tried as hard as they could, taping notes to baseballs and throwing them up in the air.

The more educated amongst them, and one of the most laughed-at Kerbals around built on previous successes. Robert H. Koddard had created the liquid-fuel rocket decades before. Other inventors had been creating different models of that. Nobody really understood how they worked, you put gasoline and liquid oxygen together and then it went boom.

The curiosity reached what seemed to be a peak when a giant piece of stone crashed to Kerbin in 1958 (0.18 in KE, Kommon Era). Mass hysteria ensued. "It's dragon droppings!" Some yelled. "The pencil's being sharpened!" Others insisted. "It's a **K****eteorite**, which originates in outer space as a solid piece of debris from such sources as asteroids or comets that survives its impact with the Kerbin's surface!" A few stated, which was perceived by many to be a stand-up comedy act.

Years passed and more were discovered, and quite a few were lost. (These were the ones that fell onto unsuspecting Kerbals and were eaten by them). The curiosity only rose, and attempts got more daring, including a massive tower to the cosmos. (It subsequently failed as Kerbal after Kerbal began to either suffocate or float off into the void).

They tried dragon bait, rubbing the sky (it didn't work) and launching actual rockets. All were inconclusive, as the drop chutes from the rockets fell on top of other unsuspecting Kerbals and eaten. The dragon bait was also eaten by unsuspecting Kerbals. Rubbing the sky only resulted in a sore arm.

The public infatuation with space reached a breaking point, when on May 25, 1961 (0.19 KE), President Jeb F. Kernedy delivered a speech that captured the heart of the nation. "The nation has recently been very focused on space." The President pointed up at the sky. Kerbals covered their heads and opened their mouths.

"That is why, today, I am proud to announce the formation of the KNSA, the Kerbal National Space Agency!" The audience erupted into cheers and applause, mouths still open.

**"WE," **He paused for effect. **"ARE GOING,"**The audience held their breath, which was foolish because their mouths were still open. _**"TO SPACE!"**_

And with a single sentence, he had captured the hearts of the nation. He had the world enraptured, and publicity ratings for PoliticsTV (All the boring politics, all the time) were actually above three for a few minutes!


	2. Chapter 2

At first, millions fought over positions in the KNSA. Of course, the giant-dragon people were the first in, which, over time, were replaced by the sky-rubbers. And then there were the outcasts. The rocketeers actually got something into space, so they became the first KNSA employees.

As with any rocket, the KNSA got off to a foolish start. Jebediah Kerman, a prominent rocketeer, had a heavy hand in the first rocket, leading to Kerbal's first nuclear bomb test.

Jebediah was put farther down the chain of rocket command, and after a lot of resets, the second was launched. It was a relative success-no fatalities and only 1,000 acres of forest burned.

After Jeb was barred from the sodas in the break room and put second from the bottom of rocket design, they managed create a monstrosity worthy of space.

The Hermes I lifter. It was a single massive fuel tank with relatively large engine coupled to a smaller one with three small engines.

T-Three Days. A former K-2 war rocket test site was converted to the main launch site for the rocket rather shoddily, but it worked.

T-2 Days. The monstrosity was assembled. Put together with the lowest-quality duct tape available, the Hermes I was designed to put a cardboard box with a solar panel put inside into orbit. Liquid fuel and oxidizer were chosen over burning paper because oxidizer seemed like a cooler word than 'paper paper go fa-da-foom'.

T-1 Day. The rocket was finished and put on the launchpad. Remote controlled, the cardboard box was reinforced with a couple strands of duct tape and had a mapping satellite (that's totally not a disposable camera with a plate and pencil taped to it to make it look like a satellite dish.)

T-0 Days. After Jebediah was caught sneaking around the launch pad with a roll of duct tape (In the middle of taping himself to the rocket), all systems were go-the ants that powered the rocket, the steam engine that controlled it, and the cardboard box was put inside a plastic bag to protect it. At T-0:00:00, the booster engines ignited and with a great 'FA-DA-FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!' and a slight 'boop', the rocket lifted off. It performed stellarly.

At ~15,000 feet, the rocket throttled down to save fuel. Mission Control had ordered a pizza in celebration. The rocket continued to ascend.

The relatively new agency was already enthralled about their achievements, and during the celebrations the rocket continued to climb.

By the time they ran out of pizza (for the 53rd time) somebody said "Hey, aren't we supposed to do something to get to orbit?"

It's called a 'gravity turn'. It's where the rocket slowly goes horizontal in order to orbit. It's where you're so high in the atmosphere, if you go horizontal and run the engines, gravity pulls you into orbit.

They looked up at the computer screen excitedly. The computer said that they were in space. A silence fell over the room as they grasped the situation.

The mission computer displayed a straight line, not a circular orbit, but nobody noticed.

The room was too loud with cheers and applause.

As the noise died down, it became clear that they would never see Hermes I again.

But they all knew.

What they had just done would rub off on the world.

Kerbalkind had gone into space.


End file.
